Reading West MP gives keynote speech at Afro Business Expo forecast to outpace the world economy by almost 2 until the end of the decade Africa is increasingly connected and mobile phone subscriptions have increased tenfold in ten years to around 550 million Whilst we in the West are experiencing demographic change with an increasingly ageing population Africa s demographic change means that its working age population is growing faster than economies in Asia In 20 to 25 years Africa will have a larger working age population than China and India which represents a staggering potential Outlining the assistance that the government is offering to UK businesses looking to export to Africa Alok said The Foreign Office has added over 20 prosperity officers to Britain s fourteen UKTI offices across Africa These individuals support business development giving local advice and support to UK companies such as UKTI s Overseas Business Risk service UKTI s Export Finance programme offers guaranteed government loans to help UK businesses get exporting And UKTI has regular trade missions with four oil and gas themed missions to East Africa and Mozambique this year alone In addition to helping British companies to trade with Africa the UK is also shifting the focus of our aid money towards economic and sustainable development Something I greatly welcome Alok also encouraged attendees from African companies to do business and invest in the Thames Valley I say to our Friends attending from Africa and African based businesses you are in absolutely the right region if you want to meet British businesses with a can do attitude who want to work with you in expanding Anglo African bi lateral trade and investment And on a national level we have a Prime Minister a Chancellor a government determined to see business succeed and exports and inward investment to grow We have been lowering

Budget Debate | Alok Sharma MP - Member of Parliament for Reading West jobs in my constituency A couple of months ago I met Ross Snape the chief executive officer of United Asphalt a successful independent business located in Theale in my constituency He said All too often we hear politicians and the press talking down the economy which can have really negative effects on business and the decisions we make on investment and employing people it is time to move on and face the challenges we have with confidence I could not agree more Many billions of pounds have been sitting on UK corporate balance sheets as deleveraging has been going on but businesses based in my constituency have decided that it is now time to invest They realise there are no easy fixes to the economy because of the problems that had built up James Morris Halesowen and Rowley Regis Con My hon Friend is giving good local examples of job creation Does he agree that as the Budget contains one of the proposals relating to the single pot of funding a recommendation of the Heseltine review his local area will be helped to develop even further Alok Sharma My hon Friend is absolutely right about that proposal which will help not only my local area but other areas It also advances the whole aspect of localism on which this Government are very keen as I am As I was saying companies in my constituency have decided that it is time to start investing and I hope that many others up and down the country will follow suit Mr MacNeil The hon Gentleman says that some companies are starting to invest but is that not related to what Keynes and latterly Paul Krugman have said in the absence of government doing anything substantial recessions will sort themselves out in the end but years of unnecessary pain will have been experienced by many people because of government inaction or wrong policies Alok Sharma Thanks to the measures taken by this Government the deficit is coming down we have record employment and interest rates are at record lows I would have thought the hon Gentleman would welcome all those things just as businesses in my constituency do The Chancellor made the point in his Budget statement that for the first time in more than two decades we are exporting more goods to non EU countries than to EU ones and I welcome that The right hon Member for Edinburgh South West Mr Darling for whom I have huge respect said that there is no growth but as he well knows there is growth we are expanding our exports to some of the world s key economies which is a result of the policies that this Government have put in place and of the good work being done by UK Trade Investment and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Small and medium sized businesses still tell us that there is a fear factor when they are looking to enter new markets UKTI and the FCO

Turbo charged exports policy key to economic growth says Sharma new markets UKTI and the FCO have been great at targeting high growth nations and opening new offices but we need to turbo charge that expansion We need not only to target three four or five cities in these huge economies such as India and Indonesia but to go into the 15 or 20 top tier 1 and tier 2 cities In those economies it is not only the national Governments who make decisions the state governments make many of the big decisions on investment which is why we need to turbo charge our approach and get these offices across these countries quickly Alok also called on UKTI to create sector focused hubs in cities within the high growth economies where British SMEs could be based and derive a real synergy benefit from such an arrangement Speaking during the debate Alok said The Government together with UKTI should provide practical help by taking on office space in these key cities basing sector experts from the UK Government and UKTI there and working with local enterprise partnerships to get out there and allow SMEs low cost desk and office space for three six or 12 months The synergies that will be created as a result of all these companies coming together in one location with sector focus and where we can also get local advisers involved will do a huge amount to boost our exports We want to go from having one in five SMEs exporting to having one in four which is the European average That will add billions of GDP to our economy UKTI is doing a great job with the headstart scheme but we need to build on such initiatives Following the debate Alok said There are huge opportunities for British businesses in some of the high growth

Sharma joins Prime Minister on business delegation to India Serco JCB Diageo Standard Life BAE Systems Atkins and HSBC as well as a good range of small and medium sized companies The education sector a major British strength and offering huge export potential was also well represented by Vice Chancellors from a number of leading British universities The trip concluded with a visit to Amritsar in the state of Punjab where the Prime Minister visited the Golden Temple the holiest shrine in the Sikh religion and then paid his respects at the Jallianwala Bagh memorial which marks the location where hundreds of unarmed Indian protesters were killed by British soldiers in 1919 David Cameron was the first serving British Prime Minister to visit Amritsar and described one of the bloodiest massacres in British colonial history as a deeply shameful event This was the second visit David Cameron has made to India as Prime Minister the first taking place within weeks of the Coalition coming to power The UK is currently on track to double trade with India between 2010 and 2015 with the latest figures indicating UK exports to India are up by more than 50 Alok Sharma said The business case for increasing trade with India is clear it is already one of the biggest markets in the world has one of the fastest growing economies and is set in the coming years to emerge as one of the first amongst equals in the world economic order It was therefore fitting that the Prime Minister took such a large business delegation clearly demonstrating the British intention to grow our trade with India significantly Alok continued In addition to supporting British businesses on the delegation I also chaired a session on financial services reform involving both British and Indian financial services companies and regulators which explored the potential for

Sharma holds exports case study seminar gave an overview of the assistance that they were able to access from UK Trade and Investment UKTI and also shared some tips they have learnt from their export operations Alok said eShare and Moo Free Chocolates gave great presentations about their businesses and experience from exporting Increasing UK exports is a vital part of growing our economy and I plan to hold further export related networking events for local businesses building on the success of the Exporting for Growth event in June and this seminar Alister Esam CEO of eShare said For small businesses learning to export is a really complicated topic to master Events such as this give exporters the valuable opportunity to learn from each other s experiences and also to engage with UKTI who provide a great range of business focussed resources Deborah Wharton Business Director at the Thames Valley Berkshire LEP said We were delighted to organise this event with Alok It was great that UKTI was represented at the event and was offering one to one sessions with any business seeking information advice or assistance about exporting eShare presentation from the seminar http www eshare co uk AbouteShare Pages ExportingBoardPacksbyeShare aspx eShare websites www

“Exporting for Growth” seminar a great success debt towards a more sustainable model based on trade and inward investment Lord Green also answered questions from business leaders on what the Government was doing to improve access to finance Rob Lewtas Strategic Partner Manager for UK Trade Investment South East set out what support is available to businesses looking to explore overseas markets with advice on key target markets to approach Chris Dodson OBE Chair of the Institute of Directors South region and Chairman of the Torftech Group gave a firsthand account of his experience of working with export licences and gave practical best practice advice Speaking after the event Alok Sharma said There has been a great response from the business community to this event and I was delighted with the turnout for the seminar The speakers represented a huge amount of business experience and they set out some good practical advice for attendees Alok continued We want to build on this seminar and hold further events in the coming months where attendees get to hear the experiences of other local firms which are successfully exporting to the growth economies and learn from these case studies Richard Benyon said I was delighted to see so many local businesses represented at this excellent event and to see their enthusiasm for increasing exports as a way to grow their businesses I hope that the seminar has inspired some of our local companies to start exporting and that they can now do so equipped with up to date knowledge on what assistance is available Steve Lamb said The Thames Valley is the engine of the UK economy and ensuring SMEs grow their businesses is one of the TVB LEP s top priorities in order to maintain our competitive environment We are always keen to facilitate and signpost local businesses and

Lord Green to attend “Exporting for Growth” seminar increase the level of exports from small and medium sized businesses Alok Sharma said Lord Green has been one of the key Ministers behind the Government s agenda for export led growth and so I am delighted he is able to attend this event where attendees will also have an opportunity to ask him questions Alok continued More than 60 companies have already signed up to attend the seminar which promises to be an informative morning and will be a great opportunity to learn more about exporting and network with fellow local businesses Anyone interested in attending should please email me at alok sharma mp parliament uk Richard Benyon said This is a major opportunity for West Berkshire companies to learn how the Government can help them grow through exporting I am delighted that Stephen Green is coming to speak at such an important event Lord Green said There are thousands of highly innovative and successful small and medium sized businesses across the Thames Valley and it is our goal to increase the number of those businesses who export I am therefore very pleased to be attending this event to speak to and hear from local businesses about how we can work in partnership to improve exports Lord Green continued The Government is absolutely committed to reforming our economy away from a model that relies on government spending and consumption fuelled by debt The only other way of driving growth and creating jobs the only way of creating sustainable growth in fact is through investment and trade The Seminar will be held on Friday 29th June 2012 between 07 30 am 10 00am at the Madejski Stadium Conference Centre in Reading Thanks to sponsorship from the Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership TVB LEP the event will be free to

MPs to hold “Exporting for Growth” seminar for local businesses highlight where help is available Richard Benyon said Our part of the Thames Valley is a vital part of the UK economy In a Europe where economies are in recession or at best stagnating exports to growing economies around the world are what will stimulate growth here at home This event show local companies the support that exists as part of the Government s strategy to increase both manufacturing and exports Steve Lamb Chairman of the Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership who have sponsored the event said Thames Valley Berkshire is the engine of the UK economy and we need to compete in a global competitive marketplace so we want to ensure the right opportunities are available to local businesses to increase their global competitiveness This seminar is a great opportunity for businesses to understand more about export markets and for us to understand what if any the barriers to growth may be for businesses Robert Lewtas Strategic Partnerships Manager for UK Trade Investment South East said With economic uncertainty in Europe and consumer demand tightening in the UK there has never been a more important time for businesses to look to win and develop business in new markets This seminar will give you a clear view of what support is available to give you the appropriate tools and a clear pathway to winning the right business in the right markets in the right way Barry Lewis Branch Chairman IoD Berkshire said With a drive to rebalance the UK economy our SME community needs all the help it can get to increase exports especially at a time when our natural European home market is showing such signs of stress and reduced demand across most sectors We are well aware of the part that our IoD SME community has to play in the recovery of the UK economy it is where the growth and the jobs will come fastest and a significant proportion of the IoD membership is drawn from that SME community The seminar has the support of other business groups including the Federation of Small Businesses the Chamber of Commerce and Reading UK CIC who have distributed invitations to their members Chair of the Reading and West Berkshire branch of the Federation of Small Businesses Martin Judd said Small businesses are known for their innovation and responsiveness to changing market conditions in order to survive and thrive They are well placed to exploit exporting opportunities or to create niche offerings which will do so To improve their prospects for growth exporting is an avenue many businesses may be considering and an event like this is great for helping this process along so that lack of crucial information does not get in the way of success Tim Smith MBE Executive Director of Reading UK CIC added The Reading economy is underpinned by global companies that interact with our SMEs This event provides an opportunity for the smaller businesses to ensure that they are tuned into all trading opportunities especially